China Focus: Senior officials prosecuted, dismissed

BEIJING, June 23 (Xinhua) -- China on Monday announced that two former senior officials have been charged with legal violations and another two dismissed from their posts as the authorities' campaign against corruption rages on.

The two officials facing legal action are Liu Tienan, a former deputy chief of China's top economic planning body, and Tong Mingqian, a former senior political advisor of central China's Hunan Province who is notorious for being involved in a serious electoral fraud.

Langfang City People's Procuratorate in north China's Hebei Province filed the charge against Liu with Langfang Intermediate People's Court.

Liu, a former deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission and head of the State Energy Administration, was dismissed from his post in May last year for suspected "serious disciplinary violations."

According to the indictment issued by the Langfang City People's Procuratorate, Liu sought benefits for others by taking advantage of his position, and accepted "an extremely large amount" of financial incentives.

After investigating the case, the Supreme People's Procuratorate designated the Second Branch of the Beijing Municipal People's Procuratorate to institute a public prosecution against Tong at the Second Intermediate People's Court of Beijing.

He was vice chairman of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, but was sacked in January.

Tong was implicated in a fraud involving more than 500 lawmakers in Hengyang City between Dec. 28, 2012 and Jan. 3, 2013. Tong, then Party chief of Hengyang, was in charge of the election.

He was seriously irresponsible and failed to fulfil his supervisory duties, leaving room for serious bribery in the election of deputies of the Hunan Provincial People's Congress. That seriously infringed the interests of the state and its people, according to the indictment.

The case has caused severe political and social consequences as it is the largest electoral fraud ever seen in China. The amount of money involved in the bribery exceeded 110 million yuan (18.14 million U.S. dollars).

In another development on Monday, the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee issued a statement, dismissing two vice provincial-level officials from their posts for suspected discipline and law violations.

They are Ling Zhengce, vice chairman of the Shanxi provincial committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and Du Shanxue, vice governor and member of the standing committee of the CPC Shanxi provincial committee.

Ling and Du's dismissal came just four days after the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC announced on its website that they were under investigation.

Their fates are the result of China's zero-tolerance attitude toward corruption. Since the 18th National Congress the CPC in late 2012, the country has strengthened anti-graft work, vowing to fight both "tigers," referring to high-ranking officials, and "flies," or those in low ranks.